Take 5: Cranston's breaks before 'Bad'

Bryan Cranston returns in his Emmy-winning role Sunday as teacher-turned-drug kingpin Walter White in the fourth season of AMC's "Breaking Bad." While this has been the defining role of Cranston's career, the 55-year-old actor has an impressive resumé of series and guest spots stretching back to a 1982 "CHiPS" episode. Here are five of his notable TV appearances.

1. RAISING MIRANDA (CBS, 1988) -- In this short-lived sitcom about a single dad (James Naughton) raising a teenage daughter, Cranston played the dad's weird brother-in-law. How weird was he? Well, he lived in a van permanently parked in the guy's driveway.

2. THE LOUIE SHOW (CBS, 1996) -- Another short-lived sitcom, another supporting role. In this case, Cranston was a Duluth, Minn., detective who was receiving counseling from the show's title character, a psychotherapist played by Louie Anderson.

3. SEINFELD (NBC, 1989-98) -- Cranston was featured in the recurring role of Jerry's dentist, Dr. Tim Whatley. He was notable for converting to Judaism and possibly violating the series star while he was a patient in the dentist's chair.

4. FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON (HBO, 1998) -- In this miniseries about the Apollo space program, Cranston played the second man to walk on the moon and future "Dancing With the Stars" contestant Buzz Aldrin.

5. MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE (Fox, 2000-06) -- His best-known role before "Bad" was as Hal, the clueless dad of four sons.